Student volunteering week aims to celebrate the positive impact of student volunteers and engage with the students who do not currently volunteer, to actively encourage them to give volunteering a try.
Student volunteering in the UK has come from a long history line. Previously, there was a lack of formal citizenship education in colleges and universities. This led to students forming a range of voluntary groups to serve the local communities and help the students learn about social issues.
Today the contributions that student volunteers give to local communities is greater than it ever has been before.
A popular part in student culture, particularly in England and Scotland, was to raise money for local hospitals through what they used to call Rag Collections. University Rag societies were student-run charitable fundraising organisations. Early Rag Collectors were said to have ragged passers-by until they made a charitable donation; we advise you don’t do this now… While in the Victorian era students would take time out of there studies to clothe those in need.
The 1930s
Students tackled the problems of high unemployment head-on, by setting up camps for men and women who were unemployed. These camps were aimed towards getting people back in employment. Assuring that those who were unemployed were fit and had the correct mindset for a working environment.
The 1940s
At the very height of the Blitz, students volunteered in the air raid and rest centres. Students believed it was crucial to play a part in their societies and provide help by all means possible.
The 1950s
Students began campaigning and fundraising for nuclear disarmament, Oxfam and the anti-apartheid movement. With a real sense of pride and direction to make a difference to the world, they were living in!
The 1960s
Students and graduates seized the opportunity to serve in developing countries. A few years later volunteering groups began to drift from traditional fundraising to more effective involvement with community issues, by getting more hands-on in communities and political issues affecting communities.
One other very important development of post-war was the formation of student social service groups and associations in many universities. Including London, Manchester and Birmingham to name a few. These social groups involved a small number of volunteers which would undergo activities such as. Gardening, decorating, hospital visiting, working with older people and children, the mentally ill. As well as, supporting charities like Shelter and Amnesty International.
The 1970s-1990s
By the 1970s there was a gradual shift from service to community action groups, which swept across many universities and colleges across the UK. Many student action groups transformed into registered charities with employed workers. What these groups did ranged from volunteering to service orientated work, like decorating, teaching immigrants and mental health projects.
In Short
The history of student volunteering is very much relevant to the student volunteers of today. Campaigning and fundraising have been essential to the student experience over the last century. And still, thousands of peoples lives have been and are being transformed by the campaigning and fundraising conducted by student volunteers.
Only students of today can decide how the movement will continue to grow over the next century.
Ensure you follow us on our social media pages to receive regular updates about the voluntary sector and learn more about the TeamKinetic system. You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:
Student volunteering is increasing with popularity, with more and more students across the UK beginning to volunteer. 57% of students indicated they have volunteered to some extent – and rightly so. Students who volunteered described themselves as being driven, reliable and easy-going, which are all positive attributes to have. However, the other 43% of the students who didn’t volunteer would be more inclined if they didn’t have barriers in their way. Barriers included paid work commitments, the pressure to studying or other curriculum activities.
But could you set these barriers aside by knowing what volunteering could do for you?
Make a change
The reason for any volunteering is to make an improvement to something or give someone else or a group of people additional support. So why not make a small change to your university schedule to make an even bigger change to someone else?
Broaden your horizon
Are you new to the city and the local surrounding areas? Well, volunteering provides the opportunity for you to explore your local area and get out and see places you will have never seen before. When settled in at university, it can become quite easy to get wrapped up in your own smaller surrounding. The local tavern, the students union, and your living accommodation. Making it very easy for you to forget that other people and places exist outside of your university bubble.
Make use of your spare time
Everyone needs downtime but how productive are your downtimes? Most of us have more than enough free time, we just spend it badly! On average a student has about six hours free time a day, depending on your course, which is an awful lot of time. The problem is we’re not thoughtful enough of what we do in our free time. Making more active and intentional use of our hours would make them count for more. Perhaps volunteering could help you fill one or two hours, out of the six you have free.
Boost your mental well-bing
The giant leap from college to university can prove mentally challenging for the many. The anxieties of being in a new city or country with not knowing anyone or knowing what to expect can be very daunting. Volunteering can help with these anxieties and place you in a better headspace.
The feeling of knowing you’re doing something valuable to release the burden from others doesn’t only show that you care. But should also make you feel pretty good about yourself too! Positive actions make a sound mind.
Raise your online presence
If you’re a student you should be very aware of how important online presence is. Online is now everything in these modern times. Volunteering can help develop your online presence hugely, I would highly recommend building your online presence as soon as possible! LinkedIn is the perfect platform to do this and by volunteering your connections online will only grow.
Remember don’t be shy to share your experiences with the outside world. Transparency is the key to employability, by showing off how amazing you are. You don’t always need to be modest.
TeamKinetic Volunteer Management System
Read more student and university-related blogs below.
Before I arrived at university, I had no idea just how much effort it takes to keep a university team running smoothly. From taking care of players’ wellbeing to ensuring the club is financially stable. It’s clear to see how much effort these students put into the clubs they’re a part of.
To keep playing their favourite sports, a select group of students from each sports team have to step up and take on a vital senior role within the club. I’d like to take a look at one club in particular.
The Manchester Metropolitan University Women’s Football team have been my favourite group of people since I started university. Now I’m on placement, I thought it’d be great to bring attention to the work they do day in, day out.
From managing club funds to organising social events, every member of a sports team’s committee is important.
One of our many nights out… Guess the theme?
The MMUWFC 1st Team
But first… What does it mean to take on one of these roles?
The different roles that students on the team can volunteer for include: – Social Secretary: ensure that the club has plenty of social activities that appeal to all members and allow everyone to get to know each other in a welcoming and friendly environment. – Treasurer: oversees financial aspects of the club. They will work with other members of the committee to plan which events and activities the club can afford to carry out. – Publicity Secretary: ensure that the club has a strong social media presence and content to keep current members engaged and attract new members. – Vice Chair/Chair: the chair is responsible for overseeing the committee and club activity/direction. They provide support and guidance to other committee and club members. The vice chair will assist them in all matters (see our interview with Charley below for more).
These roles may vary between teams/universities but are vital to keep the clubs running smoothly. Taking on one of these roles requires some work. Despite this, it can make for a great addition to any CV and the skills you learn along the way are invaluable!
I spoke to Charley Parkin, the Vice Chair of MMU Women’s Football and Captain of the 1st Team…
What kind of work do you do for the MMU Women’s Football Team?
“I mainly just oversee things on the admin side and help Crystal (The Chair) with anything she needs. Basically making sure things go smoothly. As first team captain I have to organise teams, transport to fixtures, etc. and make sure everyone is having a good time.”
Why did you want to volunteer to be on the committee?
“I wanted to volunteer to be on the committee because I did it last year as Social Sec and really enjoyed it. Plus, having been at uni three years I feel like I am in a good position to help and advise first years with any issues they have and almost act as a role model.”
Do you enjoy your role?
“I enjoy being involved with decisions made about the club and the fact we can influence things for the better and make not just people’s women’s football experience but university experience better as a whole.”
So how do I get involved?
MMU Women’s Football isn’t the only team out there that relies on volunteers! Chances are every sports club at any given university does. This may seem like hard work for anyone who takes up one of these senior roles, but the rewards are great. You’ll have leadership experience and a range of skills that you can’t find anywhere else – who wouldn’t want that on their CV?!
There are a few different ways you can get involved:
Check your university’s volunteering page,
Get in contact with your student union,
Just go and talk to the current chair of the club you want to volunteer for!
Tip: It’s usually best to go for these roles after the current sporting season has finished and before the next one starts.
SSO is a way of leveraging existing accounts from trusted sources to make logging in more secure, quicker and easier. It mostly utilises Oauth 2 to create a connection between us and the trusted source we are trying to authenticate with.
We have added Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn (admin and providers only) to our login on TeamKinetic.
Why?
As we interact online we are frequently asked to create accounts, along with a password and most usually our email address. We can forget passwords for sites we don’t use often or can get irritated having to login time and again.
Using SSO we can ask a trusted source, such as Facebook, to authenticate your email address. If you are already logged into Facebook with a matching email address you’ll get logged in immediately simply by clicking the login with Facebook button. You won’t need to enter your email address or password at all! You don’t need to remember another password and you don’t need to type in your email address and password over and over.
Do I share my personal data?
When we connect with Oauth we have to tell the source we are using what information we want back. In the case of SSO its just your email address. When you first sign in using Oauth you will notice that you have to say yes to sharing that information. That is the only information that we will be able to obtain.
What will it look like on the TeamKinetic?
We are starting to roll out this feature to all users and it will look like this. Keep an eye out for it appearing for you before Friday 7th February.
We have been slowly pushing out our 2020 Q1 interim changes for v1.4.1 and this will be complete by 7th February 2020.
You’ll have noticed a few differences already but these are the highlights, along with many bug fixes.
Improved Accessible Universal Search
The universal search is super useful but we know some customers are having trouble with the time delay used before searching and focusing the mouse on the results box.
This was done to improve its accessibility because without that switch of focus to the results window users of assistive technology and keyboard only users, would find it difficult to access the results.
We have listened to the feedback and have completely redesigned the universal search so that it is now even more accessible without annoying mouse users by switching focus.
The same results panel will appear but it now captures keyboard inputs so that using up and down, escape and return will enable keyboard users to navigate the list without ever switching the focus from the search box.
In addition all the correct ARIA attributes have been added and an additional assertive announcement for screen readers that will let the user know how many results have been returned and how to navigate them.
Login With Social Media (Single Sign On)
You’ll see a change to all login pages shortly; admin, provider, and volunteer login pages will have additional buttons for logging in with Google, Facebook, and for providers and admins, LinkedIn.
Your registered emails will have to match of course but if they do and you are already logged in with Google, Facebook or LinkedIn, you’ll get bumped straight to your dashboard just by clicking one of the social media sign in buttons. The first time you do this you may be asked to give TeamKinetic permission to receive your email address, we have to get that in order to match your account.
New Search Behaviours
We have adjusted the way the search filters are added to make them more accessible. Previously when you selected the type of filter it would be added automatically to the search. This renders it unusable for keyboard only users as they are not able to skip through the available filters without triggering their addition. So we have added a physical button you use to add the filter and some other improvements to make the search accessible.
New Search Filters
We have added some new filters to opportunity, provider, and volunteer searches, and also rearranged some others.
The new TYPE filter now contains multiple types of opportunity you can filter by, sessional, flexible, applying, and requiring references. We will be adding more as we test them.
For volunteer search we have added date FIRST and date LAST joined an opportunity along with a LINKED TO filter for finding which volunteers are linked to which providers.
Improved Reporting Text
We have updated the help tool tips on the reporting page to better explain what data is being shown. In particular around what is meant be converted, new, active, etc.
Universal Search Updates
The ordering of results has been changed so that older, less active volunteers, opportunities, and providers are less likely to appear in the top 5 results that are shown if there are many matches.
Dashboard Updates
We’ve altered the open opportunities display to remove the open/closed status (because of course they are all open!) and switched in a text category status which is also an accessibility improvement as the category is not communicated solely with colour.
There are lots of other smaller improvements, like adding more notifications to the top left notification area when actions are taking place, standardising button behaviour, harmonising more user interface elements and generally cleaning up!
Students are continuing to volunteer more and more as the years go on. But how can you continue to support the retention of your student volunteers during their time at university?
Get the opportunities right
Providing the right opportunities to present to your students, is of course, rule number one. Research shows that 95% of student volunteers are motivated by a desire to improve things or help people. This should be taken into account when providing opportunities for your students.
Try to remember that students have many different needs therefore a wide spectrum of opportunities will help recruit and retain them. It should also be noted that many students have other commitments running alongside their degrees. Commitments restrict the time students can volunteer, but by creating one of the opportunities, students have more flexibility and don’t have to commit to a specific time frame each week, making participation higher.
Engage
Engage students by promoting upcoming opportunities. Take advantage and use the connections in your university network as a platform to promote. For example, the student union, sports centre, and careers centre. This will then attract a wider range of students to your opportunities. Student union officer and also previous volunteers will also be able to spread the word of volunteering opportunities amongst students. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get students volunteering.
Support and report
Consistent support and feedback will be essential to retaining your volunteers. Volunteers want to feel valued for their efforts.
Volunteers should be aware of who their first point of contact is and how to connect with them. Students first point of contact may be ambassadors, volunteer managers or the coordinators.
Besides members of staff and ambassadors, students should be given the option to join drop-in sessions with other student volunteers. This then allows students to meet and interact with new people who have similar interests.
But most importantly, just say thank you by any mean possible. You’d be amazed by the number of people who just forget those two magic words.
Keep students in the loop
Stay alert! Make sure to be in touch with interested volunteers within 24 hours of them making initial contact. To say thank you for showing interest in volunteering, and to let them know of any upcoming important dates which they could be apart of.
Don’t get beside yourself on no shows or last-minute drop-outs. Students are very busy, so continue to keep them in the loop for future volunteering opportunities.
Be meaningful and impactful, but you don’t need to be deadly serious all the time, loosen up a little. Create space for having a laugh and a banter.
If you want more information about how TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software can help you and your organisation, feel free to visit our website.
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Aisha Labefo-Audo from The University of East London. She has given TeamKinetic some amazing feedback relating to how they use TeamKinetic volunteer management over at UEL and why they continue to enjoy our service to this day.
Let the interview begin…
What is your role at UEL?
“Civic Engagement and Volunteering Coordinator.”
Why did you start looking for volunteer management software?
“We began looking for volunteer management software because we wanted students to be able to apply for volunteering opportunities and allow organisations (providers) to be able to upload their volunteering opportunities as well. Also, we wanted a volunteer management system where students could log their volunteering hours.”
How did you come across TeamKinetic?
“We found TeamKinetc volunteer management software online almost five years ago.”
What benefits has TeamKinetic volunteer management provided for UEL?
“A lot to say the least. One of the key benefits of the system to our university is allowing students to browse through opportunities, apply/join and log in their volunteering hours.”
How was the implementation process of TeamKinetic?
“It was okay. We had a school visit from Steve, who talked about the benefits of the system and we were more than happy to proceed.”
Does TeamKinetic meet the needs of the universities volunteering department and why?
“Yes it does, although most things are done manually and we have to encourage students to log in their volunteering hours and open and reopen opportunities. But it is a nice platform to capture students volunteering.”
How do students find using the software?
“Most students find using the software easy enough. Some students just need a little hand in logging their volunteering hours, but once they’ve been shown they seem to grasp using the system.”
On average how many opportunities do you advertise for students?
“Over 60 sometimes more opportunities. This varies as opportunities open and close all the time. We advertise different kinds of roles that will support students to gain the skills and experiences they need for the real world of work.”
Are you satisfied with the training support from TeamKinetic?
“So far so good. I am hugely happy and satisfied with the online support from TeamKinetic.”
Would you recommend other universities to get in touch with the TeamKinetic volunteer management?
“Definitely, I did so last term. Someone wanted to decide if they should go for TeamKinetics and I gave them the pros and cons of the system. The pros were far more than the cons.”
Any other comments?
“We have been using the platform for almost 5 years now and we have really enjoyed using it. Sometimes I feel somethings could be improved a little. However, one thing I have come to realise from looking at all kinds of different systems, is that there is no perfect volunteer management platform out there. I look forward to what TeamKinetic has to offer in the future.”
Again thank you soo much Aisha for honest and detailed feedback.
If you want more information about how TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software can help you and your organisation, feel free to visit our website.
Find us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. call us on 0161 914 5757, we’re always happy to chat!
Many children dream wildly about becoming a firefighter when they’re older, many children would consider this to be their ultimate dream job. It certainly was mine for many years. Sadly, of the many that dream, few actually become firefighters later in life.
However, those who continued to dream heroic fantasies have been continuing them by helping to fight the detrimental fires that have been taking place in Australia.
Becoming a volunteer firefighter in the UK is not well-renowned. But in America and Australia volunteer training is highly extensive, requiring hard work and valiant commitment to the community. Smaller towns and villages in such places rely on volunteer firefighters to respond quickly to incidents, perform firefighting duties, and provide assistance and support to full-time paid firefighters.
Ultimately, ‘volunteering’ means there are no monetary benefits for volunteer firefighters risking their lives. However, many volunteer firefighters are honoured and proud to be able to serve and protect their local communities – which is the greatest reward of all.
Australia
Volunteer Firefighters
The Australian wildfires are expected each year during the summer, marking it the fire season. Hot and dry conditions permit perfect conditions for a blaze to start. This season is always particularly dangerous proving more so than ever this Australian summer, the worst seen in decades. The last significant wildfires were Black Saturday 2009.
Wildfires have swept across 17.9 million acres of woodland and national parks, also effecting the largest cities Melbourne and Sydney – with the state of New South Wales being the worst struck. A total of 27 people have died and over 480 million animals.
The video above is merely human kindness towards a fellow friendly koala. Many people, like those above, have taken their own actions to help desperate wildlife.
The bushfires are continuing to blaze and challenge the brave and noble volunteer firefighters which are risking their lives to save their country. Many firefighters have been injured and lost homes and their own lives.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) is the largest in the world, with 70,000 members across 2,002 brigades. The NSW RFS has received a spike (five times their usual amount) in applications of people wanting to become volunteer firefighters due to the ongoing events.
The Australian Prime Minister recently announced that volunteer firefighters will receive up to 6,000 Australian dollars if called out to battle blazes for more than 10 days. The Prime Minister said the compensation was necessary so that the NSW fires commissioner was able to continue to call out the volunteer force from their usual jobs – as the bushfires continue.
TeamKinetic volunteer management software
Our thoughts are with those in Australia and those being directly impacted by the fires. Please support The NSW RFS here. These horrific events should not be ignored.
Recently TeamKinetic spoke with one of our current University clients, The University of Manchester. We had the chance to speak with Ellen Stephenson who works in sports development. The university has been using TeamKinetic to manage their student volunteers for a number of years now, having developed a good relationship with the university we thought it was only right to get some honest feedback about our system.
Ellen over to you…
What is your role at The University of Manchester?
Sport Development Coordinator – Employability and Workforce.
Why did you start looking for volunteer management software?
We were using an old system called Coachweb and as part of a Manchester volunteering group recommendation, we were all advised to move to TeamKinetic.
How did you come across TeamKinetic?
My colleague knew Chris Martin and was introduced to the Manchester volunteering group.
How was the implementation process of TeamKinetic?
It was not too painful. Moving to a system which would make life easier in the long run always gives you hope. We had a lot of support from the development team and the support of a TeamKinetic FaceBook users group which had regular meetups to share ideas, see new features and ask questions.
Does TeamKinetic meet the needs of the universities sports department?
Yes! For volunteering at our sports department it really works.
How do students find using the software?
When I have explained how to use the software generally most students are happy and confident enough to use the system.
Are the staff at TeamKinetic helpful and happy to help, can you recall any experiences?
The team are very happy, friendly and helpful and we have a good rapport because we have known some of the team members for such a long time. If I need a quick answer I would not hesitate to pick up the phone, but I do try to use the online help for technical issues.
Would you recommend other universities to get in touch with the TeamKinetic and why?
I would recommend that universities do make contact with TeamKinetic and enquire how the software can be used to fit them, it’s been very beneficial over the years. Maybe it can be beneficial to others.
We’d like to thank Ellen for her answer and her time. It’s greatly appreciated.
For any University or any organisation for that matter interested in learning more about volunteer management software, visit our website or call us on 0161 914 5757. We are always happy for any inquiries and any information we can possibly give.
In 2016, more than 725,000 students volunteered. This may seem like a big number, but it was actually only around 31% of the total student population. We think it can be much higher. The benefits of volunteering are massive. From improving students’ confidence to making a difference in the local community, volunteering can be a valuable activity for any organisation to place emphasis on. As a result, we believe that every university should have volunteer management software.
There are many different types of volunteering for your students to get involved with. Popular uses of volunteer management software for universities often relate to careers, student placement services, the student union, and sport. Sport is a popular area here at TeamKinetic; Cardiff Metropolitan, Nottingham, and Manchester Metropolitan are just some of the many academic institutions already using our system for their student volunteers.
Why not take a look at one of those websites to get a better idea of how our systems work?
It appears that people are getting involved in volunteering from a younger age. 70% of 18–24-year-olds reported volunteering at some point. This age range probably accounts for the vast majority of university students, so why not support them by giving them a better system to volunteer through? Why not take the plunge and get volunteer management software?
(Figures from NCVO’s Time Well Spent report, you can view the report here.)
So… why should you use volunteer management software?
With UK plans to double the percentage of students who study, work or volunteer as part of their degree by 2020, investing in a good volunteer management system now would be beneficial to any university.
Universities making an appropriate investment in high quality provision of student volunteering, they not only support students and their communities, but they can derive benefits aligned with their strategic plan and improve the value added to students beyond their studies.
Volunteer management software has a range of features that you can put to good use!
Any good volunteer management system will save you massive amounts of time. Especially in terms of registering volunteers and making them aware of volunteering opportunities. While also reducing the need for paper-based documents which can make your offices cluttered and disorganised.
Easily creating reports and collecting data on your volunteers is another benefit of volunteer management software. You should have the ability to see how many volunteers are registered to your system, how many opportunities have been advertised, how many hours have been logged, and more. This will also save you bags of time and make data collection more fun than ever! (Might have gone a bit too far with that one… Let’s just say it will make data collection less tedious!)
One increasingly essential aspect of volunteer management is the communication between providers (the university) and volunteers (your students). With volunteer management software, you can easily reach out to your volunteers about, well, anything really. Volunteers can even chat amongst themselves on some systems. This is especially helpful if they’re nervous about volunteering alone or for the first time – something that can be common among students.
While volunteer management software can really help your university, it can also be of substantial benefit to your students. As a student myself, I know I’d much rather sign up to a volunteering system and instantly see all active opportunities than drop someone an email and wait for them to get back to me.
How TeamKinetic can help
As a Manchester-based company, we’re quite pleased about the number of hours logged by our local universities in the North West! Grafters.
We already work with a range of universities across the UK. Our software isn’t all about how many hours have been logged. Yet it’s still nice to take a step back and appreciate all the hours of hard work put in by students over the years! See how many hours have been logged by region to the right… Perhaps your university could help add to these hours!
Specifically, our system has features that will make your life as a volunteer manager easier, while encouraging your students to sign up to volunteer.
Through volunteer grouping, you could sort volunteers by sports club, society, or degree type. This can allow you to invite students to volunteer for things you know they’ll be interested in.
Our reports can help you collate data around: gender, ethnicity, group, as well as the type of opportunities your students are getting involved with most. We can also offer custom reporting services to help you get the most out of our software.
Our achievement levels sort volunteers by how many hours they’ve completed. This can be used by you to offer your students bespoke rewards based on their time spent volunteering. It’s always nice to give back to volunteers, and it keeps them coming back!
Don’t just take our word for it – hear from people who have used the software!
Previous MMU Volunteer Coordinator – Emily Roche
How has the TeamKinetic software helped you manage your volunteers?
“Team Kinetic software has given our volunteering team the ability to oversee the diverse range of volunteering we have going on at the University. We can also now create a Reward and Recognition scheme which covers all of these roles by tracking the number of hours across these voluntary roles.”
What specific features of the TeamKinetic system do you find most useful?
“The most useful feature of Team Kinetic is the fact that it links to other networks in Manchester. This means that students can get involved with a variety of opportunities without us having to go out and search for the right contact for them. We can then also keep track of where this is happening, what students are interested in doing, and contact these organisations ourselves.”
A study by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagementfound that many students volunteer at festivals to gain skills and/or develop their career prospects. However, a ‘substantial’ selection of universities don’t work with festival organisers to advertise these roles to students. As a result, this should be a key focus for universities to expand their engagement activities for the benefit of their students and the general public.
“I’ve always loved helping people. I’ve been volunteering from a young age back home and received a few awards from it. So I wanted to continue that during my studies. It’s a humbling and rewarding feeling when you volunteer and help others.”
What did you get out of volunteering?
“Besides the benefits of receiving MMU Sport colours and tiered rewards for logging hours, I was able to receive great references for my new job while enhancing my character and views of people.”
Would you recommend volunteering to new/current students? And why?
“Yes definitely! Even if it’s like an hour a week that could help change someone or a charity or a group. There are events that are one time things that are great if you can’t commit to a fixed schedule. You get to meet new people and even sometimes potential companies, depending on your degree and where you volunteer. It’s also a great opportunity to put down on your CV for the future as well.”
Why not give your students the same benefits that MMU and their students, such as Sophia, receive while volunteering at university?
Still need convincing?
Read our other blogs on how we’ve helped universities with their volunteering systems below:
